WACO, Texas — Brad Pole, a former head coach at Dakota Wesleyan and Luther and longtime assistant coach, has been selected as the recipient of the 2025 AFCA Outstanding Achievement Award. The AFCA Board of Trustees created the Outstanding Achievement Award to recognize AFCA members, past and present, who have achieved outstanding success while coaching football. Pole will be honored during the 2026 AFCA Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Past Outstanding Achievement Award winners include: Tim Marcum, Tampa Bay Storm (2003); Joe Moore, Pittsburgh, Temple, Notre Dame (2005); Homer Smith, Davidson, Pacific, Army (2006); Ted Kempski, Delaware (2007); Ken Donahue, Alabama, Tennessee, Memphis, Mississippi State (2008); Roland Christensen, Wisconsin-La Crosse, Winona State (2009); Bill Hickey, Notre Dame, Coast Guard, Swarthmore, Princeton (2012); Joe Kines, Jacksonville State, Clemson, Florida, Alabama, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida State, Texas A&M (2013); Woody McCorvey, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi State, Clemson (2014); Mike Terwilliger, East Stroudsburg (2015); Randy Hart, Tampa, Iowa State, Purdue, Ohio State, Washington, Notre Dame, Stanford (2016); George Belu, Marshall, Denison, Miami (Ohio), Colorado, NC State, LSU, Indiana, Wake Forest, Ohio State, Arizona Cardinals, Ohio Dominican (2017); Joe Whitt, Sr., Auburn (2018); Jerry Brown, Northwestern (2019); Bill Faircloth, Wake Forest (2021); Ken Browning, North Carolina (2022); Greg Davis, Texas A&M, Tulane, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Iowa (2023) and Ron Vanderlinden, Maryland, Colorado, Northwestern, Penn State, Air Force (2024).
Pole began his college football career at Cuesta Community College in San Luis Obispo, California, before transferring to Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana, where he played middle linebacker and graduated in 1979. He earned his master’s degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of Minnesota while beginning his coaching career as secondary coach for Bethel (Minn.) University in 1980.
Pole joined the University of Sioux Falls as secondary coach in 1982 and was promoted to defensive coordinator in 1983. In 1985, his Cougar secondary led the nation in passing defense. The next year, Pole joined the staff at Augustana (S.D.) University, while also serving as the director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in South Dakota. He joined the Minnesota State University-Moorhead staff in 1988 as defensive coordinator. Pole helped the Dragons win two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference titles while also advancing to the NAIA playoffs during his first two seasons.
In 1991, Pole moved to Concordia-Moorhead as offensive line coach and was named offensive coordinator in two years later. He also served as assistant baseball coach, helping the Cobbers to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) baseball championships in 1992 and 1994. Pole helped guide Concordia to the MIAC football title and an appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs in 1995.
Pole earned his first head coaching job at Luther College in 1996, guiding the program to 20 wins during his six seasons. He returned to Bethel (Minn.) in 2002 as offensive coordinator, then returned to Augustana (S.D.) in 2003 and served as recruiting coordinator and running backs coach for two seasons before becoming head coach at Dakota Wesleyan University in 2005.
During his seven seasons at Dakota Wesleyan, Pole compiled a 31-39 record and was named Great Plains Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2008 after leading the Tigers to a 7-3 record, a third-place finish in the Great Plains Athletic Conference and a final ranking of No. 23 in the NAIA. He coached six All-Americans, 105 All-GPAC athletes, four NAIA Players-of-the-Week, 18 GPAC Players-of-the-Week, and 14 NAIA Scholar-Athletes.
After his time at Dakota Wesleyan, Pole served as offensive coordinator at Morningside from 2012 to 2013, helping guide the Mustangs to a 13-1 record and an appearance in the NAIA national championship game in 2012. He joined Drake University in 2014, where he served as passing game coordinator and recruiting coordinator, then was named offensive coordinator in 2019. Pole retired from coaching after the 2019 season.
Pole and his wife, Rhonda, live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and have three sons — Ethan, Jacob, and Levi, along with 18 grandchildren.
